The present invention relates to a connector with a lock ensuring mechanism to be used for connecting electric wires.
A wire harness to be employed in an automobile as a moving body includes a connector which can be obtained by coupling a male type connector housing (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ca male housingxe2x80x9d) and a female type connector housing (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ca female housingxe2x80x9d). The male housing and the female housing respectively receive metal terminals provided with electric wires.
In the connector in which the male housing and the female housing are connected with each other, there have been heretofore proposed various types of lock ensuring mechanisms in order to confirm whether the male housing and the female housing have been completely connected with each other or in an incompletely engaged state.
The connector having the above described lock ensuring mechanism includes, for example, the above mentioned male housing, the above mentioned female housing, a lock arm provided in either one of the male housing and the female housing, a lock hole formed in the other housing, and a lock ensuring member.
The lock arm has a shape of an arm extending from the one housing toward the other housing. The lock arm is provided with a projection which can be engaged with the lock hole. The lock hole passes through the above described other housing.
The lock ensuring member is supported by the one housing so as to be detachably connected to the other housing. The lock ensuring member is provided with a release preventing part which can be engaged with the lock projection.
In the conventional connector as described above, when the projection has come into engagement with the lock hole, in short, the male housing and the female housing have been engaged with each other, the lock ensuring member is pushed toward the other housing. Then, the lock ensuring member moves toward the other housing and the release preventing part is engaged with the projection. The projection will be clamped between the release preventing part and an edge of the lock hole, and thus, the male housing and the female housing will be prevented by the release preventing part from being disengaged from each other.
On the other hand, in a state where the projection is not completely engaged with the lock hole, in short, the male housing and the female housing are incompletely engaged with each other, the release preventing part is in contact with the projection, and the lock ensuring member cannot move toward the other housing.
In this manner, the connector having the conventional lock ensuring mechanism as described above determines whether or not the male housing and the female housing have been completely engaged with each other, by detecting whether or not the lock ensuring member can move toward the other housing.
In the connector having the conventional lock ensuring mechanism, the lock ensuring member has been so designed as to move toward the other housing, after the male housing and the female housing have been engaged with each other. Moreover, since the male housing and the female housing are respectively molded of synthetic resin or the like, there has been a tendency that there are relatively large dimensional errors after the molding.
Therefore, because of the dimensional errors of the male housing and the female housing at molding, there have been such cases that the lock ensuring member can move toward the other housing, even when the male housing and the female housing have been incompletely engaged with each other. Thus, in the connector having the conventional lock ensuring mechanism, it has been impossible in some cases to determine whether or not the male housing and the female housing have been completely engaged.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a connector provided with a lock ensuring mechanism which can reliably detect incomplete engagement between the housings and can prevent damages due to the incomplete engagement.
In order to solve the above described problems and attain the object, according to a main aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector with a lock ensuring mechanism which comprises a female housing for receiving terminals, a male housing for receiving terminals, a lock arm formed integrally with an outer wall of either one of the female housing and the male housing, and extended in a longitudinal direction of the terminals received in the housings, a locking part provided in the other of the female housing and the male housing, and adapted to be engaged with the lock arm, and a lock ensuring member including a release preventing part which can be engaged with the lock arm, the lock ensuring member being supported by the one housing so as to move in a longitudinal direction of the terminals between a locked position in which the release preventing part is engaged with the lock arm and an unlocked position in which the release preventing part is released from the engagement with the lock arm, wherein the lock arm includes a lock projection which projects outward and can be engaged with the locking part and the release preventing part, wherein the lock ensuring member includes a lock recess into which the lock projection is adapted to enter when the locking part and the lock projection are engaged with each other, and a flexible piece which can be elastically deformed between a restricted position in which the flexible piece is in contact with the lock projection to restrict movement of the lock ensuring member toward the other housing and a restriction released position in which the flexible piece moves apart from the lock projection narrowing the lock recess and at the same time, allows the lock ensuring member to move toward the other housing, wherein the restricted position is maintained until the lock projection has entered into the lock recess to be engaged with the locking part, and the restriction released position is attained when the lock projection has been engaged with the locking part.
According to a second aspect of the invention, at least one of the lock projection and the flexible piece is provided with a restricting face which restricts the movement of the lock ensuring mechanism toward the other housing when the lock projection has entered into the lock recess.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the restricting face is formed flat from an inside to an outside of the one housing.
According to the connector with the lock ensuring mechanism in the main aspect of the present invention, the flexible piece can be elastically deformed between the restricted position in which it is in contact with the lock projection and the restriction released position in which it moves apart from the lock projection. Therefore, a contact area between the flexible piece and the lock projection in the restricted position can be increased.
As the results, even though there have occurred large dimensional errors when molding the housings, the flexible piece and the lock projection can be reliably brought into contact in the restricted position.
In this manner, in a state where the lock projection and the locking part are not incompletely engaged, in short, the male and the female housings are incompletely engaged, the movement of the lock ensuring member toward the other housing can be reliably prevented. Therefore, by confirming whether or not the lock ensuring member can move toward the other housing, the incomplete engagement of both the housings can be reliably detected, and inconveniences caused by the incomplete engagement can be prevented beforehand.
According to the second aspect of the invention, the restricting face formed in at least one of the lock projection and the flexible piece will restrict the movement of the lock ensuring member toward the other housing in the restricted position. Therefore, in the incompletely engaged state of the housings, the movement of the lock ensuring member toward the other housing in the restricted position will be more reliably restricted.
According to the third aspect of the invention, the restricting face is formed flat from the inside to the outside of the one housing in which the lock arm is provided, and therefore, the movement of the lock ensuring member toward the other housing in the restricted position will be more reliably restricted.